Summary: Aylmer suggests an operation to remove Georgiana’s hand-shaped facial birthmark. After his suggestion, he becomes obsessed with her mark, and Georgina becomes embarrassed and eventually angry over his obsession. Georgiana reminds Aylmer of the previous night, when Aylmer had a dream of such an operation, in which he removed the birthmark with a knife, and cut straight through her heart. Prior to the operation, Georgiana faints and Aylmer’s assistant, Aminadab, says he would not remove the mark if she was his wife. While she was alone, Georgiana skims through a few of the books Aylmer has collected. She eventually stumbles upon Aylmer’s personal journal of past experiments. She is terrified to find that most of his experiments have been failures, but Aylmer reassures her that he will not fail. Aylmer shows her the elixir that he believes will remove her birthmark successfully. Before it's time for Georgiana to drink the elixir, she claims she feels odd. When the time comes to for Georgiana to drink the elixir she does it without hesitation. Then she asks for some time to sleep in order for the elixir to work through her body. The experiment turns out to be a success for removing the birthmark. Aylmer is very happy but asks why Georgiana is not joining him in the excitement, she then tells him that she is dying. It turns out that the birthmark was attached to her sole and by removing the birthmark he killed her sole. This is what's on your shoe!
Correlation: This story was difficult to relate to the era because it was in a futuristic setting. In the 1800's there was no miracle cure that could fix any illness and there still isn't today. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a dark and depressing author and The Birthmark was a good example of this. An example of his writing is, "He was pale as death, anxious and absorbed, and hung over the furnace as if it depended upon his utmost watchfulness whether the liquid which it was distilling should be the draught of immortal happiness or misery." Hawthorne's writing style can be related to the style of Edgar Allan Poe, both authors have a dark and deep mood that they bring to their work. For example,
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more." You need to clarify that this is Poe's
One of the major themes of The Birthmark was guilt. The author didn’t make the theme as noticeable until the end when Georgiana yells, “I am dying!” Then I almost laughed at Aylmer for being such a fool and insisting on removing a silly little birthmark.
Reflection: In my opinion Aylmer deserved what had happened. He killed the one that he loved just so he wouldn’t have to look at a mark that could be covered with two fingers. If he had really loved her he could have comfortable with any type birthmark no matter what color or size it is. This act of changing appearance still goes on today. As a matter of fact it happens every day, for example women getting breast implants, or collagen or face lifts. Most of the time women do this to either impress the opposite sex or in Georgiana’s case, to improve the marital relationship.
The Birthmark
Summary: Aylmer suggests an operation to remove Georgiana’s hand-shaped facial birthmark. After his suggestion, he becomes obsessed with her mark, and Georgina becomes embarrassed and eventually angry over his obsession. Georgiana reminds Aylmer of the previous night, when Aylmer had a dream of such an operation, in which he removed the birthmark with a knife, and cut straight through her heart. Prior to the operation, Georgiana faints and Aylmer’s assistant, Aminadab, says he would not remove the mark if she was his wife. While she was alone, Georgiana skims through a few of the books Aylmer has collected. She eventually stumbles upon Aylmer’s personal journal of past experiments. She is terrified to find that most of his experiments have been failures, but Aylmer reassures her that he will not fail. Aylmer shows her the elixir that he believes will remove her birthmark successfully. Before it's time for Georgiana to drink the elixir, she claims she feels odd. When the time comes to for Georgiana to drink the elixir she does it without hesitation. Then she asks for some time to sleep in order for the elixir to work through her body. The experiment turns out to be a success for removing the birthmark. Aylmer is very happy but asks why Georgiana is not joining him in the excitement, she then tells him that she is dying. It turns out that the birthmark was attached to her sole and by removing the birthmark he killed her sole. This is what's on your shoe!
Correlation: This story was difficult to relate to the era because it was in a futuristic setting. In the 1800's there was no miracle cure that could fix any illness and there still isn't today. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a dark and depressing author and The Birthmark was a good example of this. An example of his writing is, "He was pale as death, anxious and absorbed, and hung over the furnace as if it depended upon his utmost watchfulness whether the liquid which it was distilling should be the draught of immortal happiness or misery." Hawthorne's writing style can be related to the style of Edgar Allan Poe, both authors have a dark and deep mood that they bring to their work. For example,
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before But the silence was unbroken, and the darkness gave no token, And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, `Lenore!' This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, `Lenore!' Merely this and nothing more." You need to clarify that this is Poe's
One of the major themes of The Birthmark was guilt. The author didn’t make the theme as noticeable until the end when Georgiana yells, “I am dying!” Then I almost laughed at Aylmer for being such a fool and insisting on removing a silly little birthmark.Reflection: In my opinion Aylmer deserved what had happened. He killed the one that he loved just so he wouldn’t have to look at a mark that could be covered with two fingers. If he had really loved her he could have comfortable with any type birthmark no matter what color or size it is. This act of changing appearance still goes on today. As a matter of fact it happens every day, for example women getting breast implants, or collagen or face lifts. Most of the time women do this to either impress the opposite sex or in Georgiana’s case, to improve the marital relationship.